The South of England

 Tuesday September 10. 

Here I am, ready to head off on another solo (sort of) trip!  Destination - United Kingdom, more specifically, a tour of Southern England with Rick Steves tours!  

Sometimes when I actually think about it, the actual travel day can be overwhelming.  If all goes well, first a 2.0 hour plus flight from Grand Rapids to Newark, then a 3 hour layover, then a 7.5 hour flight from Newark to London, then an hour train ride into London and finally an hour plus train ride to Canterbury, Great Britain.  Easy peasy!  

Score!!! Travel day started off well, I was able to free upgrade on the first leg to First Class.  It’s just a small commuter plane, but still - Yeah!   

Grand Rapids airport seems to have been under construction for the whole 31 years I have lived here.  The newest section is pretty nice and I especially liked the etching of Michigan and the Great Lakes on the window.  If anyone follows TikTok and happened to see comedians making fun of Gretchen Whitmore for being unusually enthusiastic about her state.  It’s not unusual, the schools spent all of fourth grade making sure that each and every child LOVED their state!  Just ask Meghan and Laura - truth.   

And in Newark, I never get tired of seeing New York City.

Score again!!! I was the last person upgraded to business class and had the luck to have a lay down seat!  Even though the flight to London was about 6 hours, I was able to have a beef tip gourmet dinner, and catch a few hours of sleep.  I could have had unlimited wine/alcohol, snacks and breakfast, but I would rather sleep.  Here’s me looking pretty happy about my flight seat assignment.

Upon arriving in London, I followed the handy dandy Rick Steves recommendations to get to my hotel and hopped on the underground for the first part of my journey to downtown London.  There won’t be any pictures, but just picture an old crowded subway and you get the picture just fine in your minds.   Next and finally, a high speed modern train from London to Canterbury. 

Here are a couple of pictures of London’s historic train station.  It was a great mix of old and new. It was also super busy. 

And I am finally here, at the street entrance gate of the Canterbury Cathedral.  Starting at noon yesterday and arriving at 1pm Great Britain time, 8am home time!  Yes, travel day can be a lot, but all went as planned, and I am ready to explore.